Another Downtown Parking Lot

Another Downtown Parking Lot

Article excerpt

By this time next year, three buildings that are just standing
there preventing the construction of another downtown parking lot
will be gone forever. In their place will be neat rows of sedans,
minivans and sport utility vehicles, making their unique
contribution to the downtown ambience.

The three buildings are on Fourth Street, between Market and
Walnut streets, and two of them are significant. The 10-story
International Fur Exchange, built in 1919, is a tangible link to
the city's past as a fur-tr ading center; the four-story American
Zinc building, clad in stainless steel, is an architectural gem.

None of that matters much to the Bosley administration, which
has little use for vacant buildings, especially when someone wants
to turn them into parking lots. Too bad City Hall doesn't
understand that no downtown ever used parking lots as a springboard
to revitalization. Many have rebounded, however, by making
innovative use of buildings that link a city with its past and give
a downtown a distinctive flavor. …